What to do with my 100-year-old grandmother's jewelry?

MrsJolie · Jul 27, 2015

My grandmother is 100 years old and recently gave me a few pieces of her jewelry. She said that I am the only person she knows who appreciates jewelry and might actually wear it instead of selling it for a few bucks.

I would never even dream of selling these things. I don't believe that they would be worth very much to start with, and they hold a sentimental value that is priceless to me.

The first piece is the engagement ring that my grandfather gave her in the 1930s. It is a simple ruby solitaire in 14k gold. She said diamonds were not as popular back then as they are now. The shank is worn down and very thin on the bottom of the ring. She stopped wearing this ring a long time ago and it was replaced by a diamond ring at some point. She held on to it for sentimental reasons, of course. I would really like to wear this as a right hand ring or something. Any ideas on how I should restore this ring? Should I keep it as is and just get it resized, polished, deep cleaned, etc? Should I make it into something new? What would you do with it?

The second piece is a diamond nugget pendant thing. It was made from several gold rings that she had, one of the rings having the 7 diamonds in it. In the 70s she had a jeweler melt all of the gold together and put the diamonds in it to make a pendant. It's quite heavy but I'm not sure the type of gold used for it. I am more interested in the 7 little diamonds. They look to be about 2mm. What can I make with these?

She also gave me 3 Bulova watches. They look really old, none are working. I wouldn't even know where to start with these things and will probably just hold on to them and keep them as they are. They are fun to look at

Please give me your ideas for the ruby engagement ring and the diamond nugget pendant. My grandmother is a very simple and humble lady. She was raised and lived on a farm and didn't live in a house with plumbing until she was in her 40s. I have never known her to wear jewelry except for her wedding band and a simple watch. She is not impressed by flashy things and I want to do something with these that will make her proud. I think it would bring her a lot of joy to know that I am wearing her jewelry

VRBeauty · Jul 27, 2015

How lovely that your grandmother would entrust you with her jewelry, and that you want to honor her by making some of it wearable!

I know pictures can be deceiving, but the ruby ring doesn't look to be in that bad of shape, structurally. However, you should take it to a good jeweler for a check-up. The prongs should be checked of course and probably need to be tipped or re-built. I've had estimates of $10 to $30 per prong for re-tipping and repairing prongs. If the shank is indeed a concern, a good jeweler can replace the shank and polish everything up so it looks like new. I recently got an estimate of $400 to re-shank a simple ring. (BTW - that was a

for me! I think the last ring I had re-shanked, about 10 years ago, cost about one-third that amount.) If you want to dress up the ruby a bit, it would also be relatively inexpensive to pop it into a Stuller setting with diamond side stones or a diamond halo. Most jewelers can access Stuller pre-made settings. Or - you could get it set into an art deco period setting, either custom or stock... but rubies can show some wear over time, so you'd want to be sure that the stone is worth that kind of investment.

I like vintage watches, and as it happens I'm wearing one right now - sort of a cross between the first and third watches in your picture. There's a good chance that some or all of the watches are operable and just need a good cleaning. However, I realize its equally likely that you wouldn't care to wear one of these watches even if it were running! If you're interested though, cleaning a mechanical watch in my area runs $95 - $200. Some jewelers still carry this style of stretch band (or the older cord bands, which can also be used with these heads) and you can also usually find new old stock bands on ebay. I have a NOS band or two lying around that I could sell you - LOL! A non-operable option is to link the watch heads together, add some chain, or large links, and/or beads and a toggle clasp, and - voila! Hobo chic bracelet! Google "vintage watch bracelet" images to get an idea of what I'm talking about. I'm sure you can find lots of DIY instructions online as well.

There are others here who are much, much better than I at envisioning diamond projects.

zxexn01 · Jul 29, 2015

Try taking it to different local polishers, or jewelry repair stores. I recently had my grandmothers gold ring polished and re-sized since I wanted to wear it. It made it feel like she was with me everywhere I went. Visit different places to get many opinions and to get a good deal so you don't get rip off.

MollyMalone · Jul 29, 2015

MrsJolie|1438050365|3908172 said:
My grandmother is 100 years old and recently gave me a few pieces of her jewelry. She said that I am the only person she knows who appreciates jewelry and might actually wear it instead of selling it for a few bucks.

I would never even dream of selling these things. I don't believe that they would be worth very much to start with, and they hold a sentimental value that is priceless to me.

The first piece is the engagement ring that my grandfather gave her in the 1930s. It is a simple ruby solitaire in 14k gold. She said diamonds were not as popular back then as they are now. The shank is worn down and very thin on the bottom of the ring. She stopped wearing this ring a long time ago and it was replaced by a diamond ring at some point. She held on to it for sentimental reasons, of course. I would really like to wear this as a right hand ring or something. Any ideas on how I should restore this ring? Should I keep it as is and just get it resized, polished, deep cleaned, etc? Should I make it into something new? What would you do with it?
* * *
I think it would bring her a lot of joy to know that I am wearing her jewelry

She will indeed get much pleasure seeing that you treasure her gifts, so it's wonderful -- for both of you -- that she's given these pieces to you now rather than via a will bequest.

Agree with VRBeauty that by the time you pay to restore the ring shank, resize the ruby ring, etc., it's likely to be cheaper to put the stone into another mounting & Stuller has quite a catalog, including some vintage-y ones. But perhaps something entirely different? Here's a photo of one of Yvonne Raley's "sunflower" rings; I picked this pic because of the red (spinel) center stone, but she's done a number of variations on the theme -- the sunflower rings she presently has in stock include one where the petals have been engraved, rather than being set with stones, so you can see that version too:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/yvonneral...r=date_desc&view_type=gallery&ref=shop_search